Thursday, March 14, 2013

Ahhh, the plot twist, how many times have we read a book or
watched a movie thinking we know all that is going to happen? Only for the plot
twist to rear its head and suddenly, we the audience, no longer have any grasp
on what to expect. Depending on the story (and how it is presented) plot twists
can have different effects on the audience. If it is foreshadowed enough, we
may have seen this important change coming a mile away or it can catch us
completely by surprise. From my understanding, a good plot twist is
foreshadowed with subtlety, enough to make you realize that all is not what it
seems, but is just mysterious enough to keep you from figuring it out until it
is finally revealed. Then of course there are plot twists that come right out
of nowhere, but while those are shocking, they never really seem to improve the
story and are just there to confuse you. To me, what makes a plot twist really
work is that it has always been present in the story, but the audience fails to
recognize it before it is too late. Some best examples of a plot twist like
this would be Agatha Christi’s “And then there were None,” and need I forget
one of the most infamous movie plot twist, the revelation in Star Wars that
Darth Vader is Luke’s father (The latter was definitely hinted at throughout
Empire Strikes Back, take a look if you don’t believe me). As great as this
literary device is in books, movies and television shows, there is a medium
that takes the plot twist and makes it much more personal. That’s right, you
guessed it. Video games.

Video games have been using plot twists in their narratives
for as long as they have been creating stories around gameplay. A majority of
plot twists I’ve seen in classic games and even some modern titles are used to
level up the drama creating a new sense of urgency to finish the game or trying
to provoke a certain emotion in the player. Heck, a majority of jaw dropping
plot twists from my early gaming experience came from the Final Fantasy series,
six and seven to be specific. Since RPG’s were always the more story oriented
games, it was all the more likely that a few unexpected revelations/events were
bound to occur for any of the reasons above or simply just to flesh out a
character. However, while the use of the plot-twist in video games can be just
as good as a film or book, I know it can be much more than that. Video games
are designed to be an interactive medium, where the audience can be more
involved with a story and characters than ever before. With that in mind, how
can a video game make a plot twist in a story so much more personal to the
player? Simple, by making the player a part of the story.

By: http://jonneh86.deviantart.com/

Now the game that I grew up watching, not playing, that
really gave me intense sense of shock and awe through plot twists was Metal
Gear Solid. Gamers should know the infamy this series has with its plot twists
and how crazy they can be. However for the gamers who become familiar with the
series through this game should know what I am getting at here. For those of
you who don’t know, I’ll get you up to speed. Metal Gear Solid is a game where
the player takes control of a super spy, codenamed Solid Snake, to sneak
through a huge military base that has been taken over by terrorists that are
threatening to launch a nuclear missile through the use of a gigantic walking
battle tank (Metal Gear Rex). Snake’s mission, as well as the players, is to
sneak into the base, rescue two hostages and sabotage the terrorists. Pretty
straight-forward right?

Wrong.

Every time Snake comes close to satisfying one of his
objectives, a new complication arises that not only shocks you but leads the
player to doubt their actions in some way. For example, you find the hostages,
they share what they know about the goings on in the base, you get ready to get
them to safety…only for them to die right in front of you from what seems to be
a heart attack. I remember being the tender age of 9 when I watched my older
brother play this game, and that these moments straight up terrified me. Yet,
as scared as I was, I wanted to know what had gone wrong, a mystery that would
continue to stay that way until later in the game. Metal Gear Solid is a game
that handles its plot-twists with a genius level of expertise, yet even still
takes it further than anyone ever thought possible of a video game at the time.
Throughout the game, Snake communicates with a support team stationed from a
sub far away from the military base. One member of this team is, of course, Snake’s
direct superior. Once things start going wrong with the mission, he begins to
behave differently, like he knows much more about the situation than he lets
on. Now as a person, the player knows something is not right making them
uncertain about continuing, but as a video game, the only way to beat it is to
continue to follow orders.

This involves more sneaking around the base, eliminating all
threats in your way. From the guards that spot you to terrorist leaders, former
members of an elite mercenary unit codenamed FOXHOUND. Through all the
surprises and hardships, Solid Snake is able to destroy Metal Gear and prevent
the nuclear strike. That means you beat the game right?

Wrong.

Miraculously, the terrorist leader is still alive and
kicking, eager to have one final showdown with our protagonist. But it is here
where the culmination of all of the player’s doubts of events leading up to
this point comes to ahead.

The cutscene is shot from Snake’s POV looking up at the
terrorist leader, Liquid Snake (There is a reason for that code name but that
is beside the point), as he gives his “I want to create a world of war” monologue.
Snake denies wanting to live in a world like that, only for Liquid to call his
bluff. Liquid looks directly at the camera and asks, “So why are you here then?
Why do you continue to follow your orders while your superiors betray you? Why
did you come here?”

Snake doesn’t answer, only for Liquid to answer for him.

“You enjoy all the killing! That’s why….haven’t you already
killed most of my comrades? I watched your face as you did it. It was full of
the joy of battle. There’s a killer inside you, you don’t have to deny it.”

It was at this point, even as a nine year old, that I turned
to my brother and said, “I think he’s talking to us.”

In a matter of a few seconds, Metal Gear Solid had torn the
fourth wall wide open, blaming the player for all the deaths that had occurred
in the game thus far. This includes the death of the hostages, guards you may
have killed along the way and the members of FOXHOUND. Being the goodie to
shoes that I was as a child, this entire scene left a huge impact on me and how
I saw video games. Not to mention it continued to make me question on how
“good” I really was. I could have stopped watching the game at any point in
time because I didn’t agree with the killing that can occur or just because
there was plenty of things that scared me. Yet…I continued to come back. I
wanted to see what else was going to happen and how the story was going to end.
Did that make me a bad person? Was it wrong for me to just watch all these bad
things happen and just accept it? Did that mean I actually enjoyed it?

Even long after the game had been beaten and turned off,
these questions still lingered in my head. Being as young as I was, I really
didn’t know what to make of it. Again it wasn’t until much later in life that I
realized what I had experience and its importance in a story. Due to this
experience however, I will always remember that first plot twist. That moment
where my perception of events was completely thrown on its head and taken for a
spin, leaving me to question not just the game but myself as well. Its
interesting to think, that I may not have had the same reaction if my brother
and I did not have the same level of control throughout the story.

This is how far video game plot twists can go if handled
right. I know Metal Gear Solid is not the only game to do this (I’ve heard
there is quite a big one in Bioshock), but to my understanding in a huge array
of games that use the plot-twist use them simply as other mediums do. Although
it has its place, I think it is much more important to give kids and even some
adults the idea of what to do when a preconception is found out to be false. A
mature life lesson on how the unexpected can affect you on a deeper level. I
will not be so bold as state a video game can teach you how to handle a feeling
or situation like that better than real life experience (since honestly it
hasn’t been done yet), but it is important to teach kids through either their
parents or school on how to react to it and sort through those feels through
discussion. Like I have stated before, kids feel these mixed emotions just as
adults do, the problem is (like it was with me) that they are not sure how to
say it. Talk to your kids, get an understanding of what they understand and
what they don’t understand about the stuff they experience on a daily basis,
whether it is through media or everyday life and try to fill in the gaps.

On an ending note I'd like to put out the thought of homework. A discussion of sorts in the comments below. I'd like to ask you my fine ladies and gentleman. What was the biggest twist for you in your childhood gaming experience?

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